A Day in Recovery
by Zaratan
Summary: A day taken from Kim's stay in the hospital. Part of the Bonnie's Curse series, and takes place between chapters 8 and 9 of Recovery. Done for the RS dot net contest.


I don't own anything, so you'll get nothing from suing me. Just a little thing I threw together for the new RS dot net challenge this month. Finally, something I can tie in to my regular series. It's not the topic I wanted, but it will do. Part of the Bonnie's Curse Universe, taking place between chapters 8 and 9 of Recovery.

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A Day In Recovery

Kim awoke with a groan, and she reached over quickly, slapping the alarm clock off. It had seemed like a good idea to ask her mother to bring it, to get back into a rhythm and routine, but right now, she just wanted to sleep for another hour or two. She shut her eyes again, trying to find the blissful dream that had been interrupted by the annoying contraption, only to open her eyes again when the door to her room opened.

"I thought you wanted to get up Kim? That's why we scheduled these tests for now."

Kim rolled her eyes, looking up at the older nurse who was smiling down at her. "I know, I know, I asked for it. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

The nurse sat down by the edge of Kim's bedside, pulling the blood pressure cuff off the wall. "So what have you got planned for today?"

Kim stuck out her arm, and the nurse quickly set to work. "Morning stretches before breakfast, and then tackle my history work after I eat. Then Amy has a few torture devices she wants to test on me. Lunch, more torture, and then back to tackling the schoolwork."

"And when is that young, handsome boyfriend of yours dropping by for a visit?"

Kim could see the mischievous glint in the nurse's eye, as she smirked while removing the cuff. "He'll be dropping by to join me for dinner, if nothing comes up."

The nurse placed the cuff back up on the wall, smiling broadly. "Well then, I'll make sure the nurse on duty doesn't take your blood pressure right after his visit. Wouldn't want your mother getting any wrong ideas, now do we?"

Kim just blushed, refusing to look the woman in the eye. "We don't… I mean…"

"I'm just playing with you dear. Besides, the way I here you keep pushing yourself, I'd be surprised if you had any energy left for that kind of thing anyways."

Kim's blush brightened, but she didn't say anything further. To say it wasn't something she had thought about would be lying, but they had talked about it months ago, and they knew they weren't ready for that just yet. Of course, she didn't need anyone else to know what she was thinking in that regard, especially some of the fantasies she'd had. The one with her in her cheerleading outfit and Ron in his Zorpox outfit was definitely one she had no plans of sharing, maybe not even with Ron when they got to that point in their relationship. Well… maybe then.

"I'll leave you to your work then Kim, and remember… don't work too hard."

"I'll remember that, thanks Janet."

When the nurse had shut the door quietly, Kim set to work. Lifting her leg high, and grabbing it with her hands, she started stretching out her muscles for the day's events ahead. She winced as the muscles in her leg twinged and complained, but Kim kept up the pressure. Back before the fight with Monkey Fist and the coma, these morning exercises would have taken only a couple minutes, never giving her the least concern. Now, after six months of inactivity, even the simplest task seemed incredibly hard. Less than a week from waking up, and she still could hardly stand on her own, let alone move around all that much. But Kim would not take the situation lying down, not for a moment.

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"Come on Kim, you can do this! It's only set to eighty pounds, you've got to push!"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Kim could feel her legs twitching under the strain, as she pushed against the weight with all her might. Slowly, laboriously, the weight shifted, and with a final cry, she straightened her legs, holding her legs locked as she breathed a sigh of relief. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she slowly lowered the weight back down, resting her head back on the leg press bench when the strain was gone.

"Well done Kim, you are making great progress."

"It sure doesn't feel like it. I used to be able to max out a machine like this and not even break a sweat. Now, I'm working at the bare minimum!"

Amy handed Kim a bottle of water, pulling up a seat next to the young teen. "Your body is still adjusting, it will take a while. You're already well ahead of where I thought you would be at this point. How's the school work coming."

Kim took a long pull on the water bottle before setting it beside the bench. "It's getting there, but there seems to be so much of it. When I first saw it all there, I didn't even know where to start. History, English, Math, Physics… it just all seems so endless right now. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time, see what I can finish up, and go from there."

Amy just smiled, rising to her feet. "That's a really good way to look at it. And don't let it all overwhelm you, you'll do fine. You have a good head on your shoulders, and you have your friends and family to help you out. Remember, it doesn't hurt to ask others for help every so often. Now, shall we get back to this, so you can get back to all that work ahead of you?"

Kim just grinned, laying back down on the bench. "Let's up it to one hundred, and see how that goes."

Amy chuckled softly. "Walk before you run grasshopper. Let's see you do twenty reps at eighty first."

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Kim groaned as the screen went blurry on her, the letters seeming to blend together into a gobbeldy gook of shapes and patterns. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced over at the clock, noting the afternoon was quickly slipping away. A knock at the door startled her, and she sat up quickly.

"Come in."

Kim's mother stuck her head in the door, smiling brightly. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Kim grinned broadly. "I was just going to take a break. The screen was starting to go fuzzy on me."

Andrea Possible strode quickly into the room, seating herself at the foot of the bed. "So how's everything going? Amy gives me reports of course, but I'd like to hear how your thoughts are on everything."

Kim just shrugged. "It's going pretty good. I mean, I wish it was going faster, I don't think I've been stuck in bed this long ever, but it's going all right. Amy thinks I should be free walking soon enough. And I'm starting to make a dent in the schoolwork, but it's an awful lot to take at once, you know?"

"I know how that is, but don't let it get to you."

Kim closed up her computer, placing it onto the table beside her. "Mom… there's something I've wanted to talk to you about. Everyone else seems reluctant to talk about what happened, but I just… when everyone looks at me, I can see it. I mean, the Tweebs haven't made a single joke around me, or even gotten on my nerves. All they do is hug me and run. How… how did everyone take… you know… me, being hurt."

Andrea sighed, her face falling as she did, looking over at her daughter. "I won't lie to you, it was pretty rough. Your father took a week off from work to sit by you here. It took all I could to get him to go back to work, that you'd still be here when he got off work. I don't think he ever really appreciated just how badly you could be hurt by what you were doing, at least not consciously. He kept going on and on about how you would not be going back out there once you woke up and were all better."

Kim looked a bit shocked. "He won't let me go on missions anymore?"

"He didn't want to, even brought it up again a couple days ago, and you have to understand why he feels that way. When you first started, you started slowly, building up to it. You never got hurt, at least not badly. Not enough for your father to notice. And you were so good at it, he was so proud of you. But after this, he was scared. He loves you so much, and he didn't want you to get hurt again like that."

"But I still want to do the missions Mom! I like helping people and…"

"And he knows that dear. And while he doesn't like it, he understands if that's what you want to do. He'll always love you, and he'll always be proud of what you do, but after this… it will also scare him just a bit."

"And… what about you?"

Andrea took a moment, before smiling. "It was hard for me too dear, but I think I was more… prepared… for something like this to happen. To be honest, I expected something to happen before now, but I trusted you, and I still trust you. I know that things like this are part of the package, and I just have to have faith that nothing like this will happen again. As for your brothers… they were scared, definitely, but I wouldn't worry about them. They'll be back to bugging you in no time, and you'll wish you had the peace and quiet you're enjoying now."

Kim laughed, wiping the small tear from her face that was trailing down her cheek. "Yeah, maybe I shouldn't ask for the little monsters back, huh?"

Andrea rose to her feet, smiling. "Just try to remember the few quiet moments with them this week when they are firing rockets your way again. Now, there was a reason I came in here, besides just to visit. The hospital counselor has an opening in about an hour, and he wants to meet with you. Originally, we were trying to get something booked for you earlier, but it's been a bit busy lately."

"A counselor? I don't really think…"

"I'm afraid it's not optional. Everyone has to speak to a counselor after an event like this, and I think it would be a good idea."

"What does he want to talk to me about?"

"Just anything that comes to mind. He's not there to pry, just to help you out with some things you might not be comfortable talking about with anyone else, if that's what you want."

Kim frowned slightly, releasing a sigh. "I guess if I have to…"

Andrea just patted Kim's leg. "It won't be so bad. You talk for a bit, and that's all there is to it. Anyways, do you want to crack out a board game until your appointment, I brought a few over from home, and I have a bit of time until I'm needed."

Kim grinned. "Sure, sounds like fun."

Andrea quickly moved to grab the game, and Kim's smile fell slightly. She didn't really want to talk to the counselor, she was fine… other than the dreams, and she really didn't want to talk about those. Not yet anyways. Kim put her smile back on when her mother came back to the bed, but she worried about what she was going to have to talk about when the time came for her appointment.

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"So you are planning to go back to doing missions once you're better?"

Kim's eyes kept traveling around the office, taking everything in. "Yeah, I do. I really enjoy helping people, and it's actually pretty fun, for the most part."

"Are you worried you might get hurt again? From what I've seen, it's pretty dangerous work you're involved in, especially for someone so young."

Kim just shrugged. "Sure, it can be dangerous, but I can't see not doing what I do. What I do helps so many people, they need it."

The counselor nodded. "I understand that. But what about a career? I'm sure there aren't that many jobs out there that you can just drop quickly to go out and save the world."

Kim looked away, rubbing her hands together anxiously. "I haven't exactly decided what I want to do yet, not really anyways. Can we talk about something else?"

The counselor smiled and nodded. "We can talk about anything you want. This is to help you after all."

Kim sat there silently, just looking at her hands as her fingers flexed in and out. After a couple of minutes just sitting there, Kim finally spoke up. "Could we… do this another time? I'm kinda tired right now."

The counselor nodded slowly. "That's not a problem. But I hope you'll allow yourself to open up, it's not good to bottle anything in that might be bothering you."

Kim nodded herself. "I know that, I just… it's not easy to do, you know?"

"I understand. Maybe next time."

The counselor signaled for the nurse, and she wheeled Kim back to her room, leaving him to ponder a few things. _There is definitely something wrong…_

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"Hey KP, I brought dinner!"

Kim opened her eyes, smiling brightly when Ron walked into the room. "What did you bring me?"

Ron carried the tray in his hands, two bowls, covered, sat upon it, the faintest wisp of steam emanating from them. "The soup de jour is a nice chicken noodle, with a fine selection of orange and apple juice. I'm told the 2006 was a very fine year for both."

Kim giggled, as Ron set the tray down on the table. He scooted Kim over, so he could sit in the bed with her. With a flair, he lifted the lids on the bowls, smiling broadly. "Your dinner is served madam."

Kim dug in quickly, and with relish. She wished she could eat something other than soups and jello and such, but her body had to adjust still, and couldn't take any solid foods after months without. "This is great Ron, this is definitely not hospital food."

"Nope, this is my mother's recipe, she whipped up a batch last night for us."

"You'll have to thank her for me."

"I will at that."

Kim polished her bowl off quickly, even faster than Ron did, and she sat back, sighing contently. Ron put his arm around her, pushing the hospital table away with his free hand. Closing her eyes, Kim leaned over, tucking her head onto Ron's shoulder, finding it quite comfortable to rest there in the crook of his neck.

"You're not going to sleep on me already, are you KP?"

Kim just smiled, her eyes staying shut. "I'm just resting my eyes, it's been a long day. Rehab and schoolwork and all that… just running low… gas, you know… tired…"

Ron leaned his head against hers, listening to her breathing as it slowly deepened, until he was sure she was asleep. Carefully, he craned his head slightly, gently kissing her on the forehead. "You sleep, I'll still be here."

Kim snuggled closer, and Ron pulled the blanket over the two of them. Ron kissed her again, and she sighed. "I love you KP."

Kim seemed to wiggle slightly against him, and he noticed her smile broadened, even as he made out her whispered response. "I love you too Ron."

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Author's Notes – Probably should have done this in Recovery itself, but I figured I was keeping Kim in the hospital far too long as it was anyways. Besides, it makes a nice one-shot by itself.


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